Projects

	Table of Contents
p. 5 of 26 BACK | NEXT Home Why Biodiversity Corridors? Biodiversity Landscapes in the GMS Western Forest Complex Tonle Sap and Inundation Zone Cardamom and Elephant Mountains Northern Plains Dry Forest Eastern Plains Dry Forest Tri-border Forests Central Annamites Northern Annamites Mekong Headwaters Project Strategy GMS BCI Pilot Sites Key Documents Project Team and Partners Key Events Photo Slide Show Contacts

Tonle Sap and Inundation Zone (Cambodia)

Tonle Sap Lake and Inundation Zone

Country: Cambodia

Provinces/Districts: Siem Reap, Banteay Mean Chey, Bat Dambang, Pousat, Kampong Chhnang, and Kampong Thum

This biodiversity conservation landscape primarily represents the Tonle Sap Freshwater Swamp Forests ecoregion. It covers the seasonal inundation zone surrounding the Tonle Sap Lake, which is the largest freshwater body in Southeast Asia.

The landscape is characterized by two forest associations

1. a shrubland with short-stature trees that covers most of the area, and
2. a stunted swamp forest immediately around the lake. The structure, composition, and even the phenology of the floodplain vegetation are influenced by the seasonal flood dynamics.

There are six IUCN protected areas within the landscape. The large Tonle Sap Biosphere reserve encompasses three--Boeng Tonle Chhamar, Stung Sen, and Prek Toel-within it as specific management areas within the large Biosphere Reserve. The other two, Angkor Wat and Ang Trapeang, are isolated. Although there are no known birds or mammals that are endemic to the landscape, it is considered to represent one of the most complete and richest wetland ecosystems in the GMS.

This landscape is also important because of the ecosystem process and services it provides. The seasonal inundation is important for spawning of several species of fishes, and the high fish productivity contributes to Cambodia's food security and to the hydrological regime of the Mekong River system.

Key Conservation Issues and Threats to Biodiversity
Habitat clearing and conversion for agriculture is a significant issue. Increased use of fertilizers and the runoff into the lake and tributaries have adverse effects on the fish and the people who live there. Trees are cut to make fishing gear, including drift fences and fish traps.

Fishing pressure is high because of intensive, and even illegal, methods. Depletion of fish stocks can not only deplete fish populations, but also has cascading effects throughout the trophic structure of the ecosystem. Hunting of waterbirds, mammals, and reptiles is common. Hunting practices include shooting, trapping, and even capture of birds, turtles, and snakes with hook and line,

Impacts of the GMSEC
The main artery of the Bangkok-Phnom Penh Highway skirts the landscape to the south, but its zone of influence extends deep into the core zone. However the northern arm of the road cuts through the length of the landscape.

Currently, no dams are planned within this landscape. However, the dams elsewhere in the Mekong River basin could change the hydrologic relationship with the Tonle Sap.

Visit the Tonle Sap project web site.